2:40pm: Flowers will earn a prorated $1.5MM base salary upon reaching the big leagues, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Bowman.
12:22pm: The Braves have re-signed veteran catcher Tyler Flowers to a minor league contract, reports David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). The O’Connell Sports client will head to Triple-A Gwinnett for the time being.
O’Brien reported last month that Flowers had taken a non-playing role in the Braves organization, helping to blend data from the team’s analytics department with game preparation. The door for a potential return was seemingly left open, and the recent injuries to Travis d’Arnaud and Alex Jackson have brought about a more acute need. The Braves recently selected the contract of light-hitting but defensively sound veteran Jeff Mathis, and for now he’s being paired with prospect William Contreras behind the dish.
Flowers, 35, hit just .217/.325/.348 in a tiny sample of 80 plate appearances with the Braves last year. He racked up 1300 plate appearances from 2016-19, however, hitting at a .254/.350/.412 clip along the way. Flowers was one of the early focuses of the game’s increasing interest in pitch framing, as he’s long rated among the game’s best at getting borderline pitches called for his staff.
It’s not clear at this time whether the Braves will get d’Arnaud back in 2021. He’s slated to undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in the thumb on his catching hand, and while the Braves are hopeful he’ll be available late in the year, no official timeline has been provided.
He is terrible. Yes he can frame but would rather Sal Fasano
Um he’s been a good hitter for a catcher and is an amazing framer
Am I the only one that thinks Jeff Mathis should actually get MORE playing time? I know he is a terrible hitter but look at what he did today behind the plate. The man actually made Drew Smyly, Luke Jackson and Grant Dayton all look great on the same day. This isn’t new for Mathis. Pitchers are seriously better when he catches and by a wide margin. Just ask Mike Minor. He has basically only been good when Mathis is his catcher over the past several years. I love Contreras bat but his framing and catching in general really scare me. If you want to know where the next pitch is going to be, just look at Contreras. If the pitch is going to be outside, Contreras is already positioned way outside. If the pitch is going to be inside, Contreras is already positioned way inside. If the pitch is going to be a strike, Contreras is already positioned straight down the middle of the plate. If I realize this, MLB hitters do too. All they have to do is look at Contreras to know where the next pitch will be and whether it is going to be a ball or a strike. Contreras also never moves. It’s not like he’s tricking the batters or anything. The pitch always goes exactly where Contreras is set up 20 seconds before the pitch is even delivered. He gives hitters plenty of time to look at him and determine exactly where the next pitch will go.
I’d be okay with Mathis catching every Smyly start.
Sal Fasano couldn’t hit…period. Flowers has a 99 ops+ in his time with the Braves.
Hate to tell u this, but he’d likely be better offensively than both TD and AJ this year and is certainly better than both defensively (maybe not Jackson, but definitely can hit better than him). It’s just a minor league contract. There is nothing wrong with this move, in fact, it’s a good move.
I don’t see how anyone can view this as a bad move. Can’t please some people.
You definitely can’t please them, but you can mute them!
Let the kids play! Braves aren’t going anywhere they don’t have any pitching depth. 162 games with what they are putting out to pitch? Never gonna hold up. Na.
A broomstick stuffed into a traffic cone is better offensively than Alex Jackson.
Exactly.
Thought he was supposed to have a good hit tool but questionable defense at 3b, so he was moved back behind the dish. The hope was his defense would catch up with his offense. That hope was exceeded when he put on the mitt.
@UGA_Steve. I was under the impression that Seattle moved him to the outfield because his defense behind the dish was suspect (except for the cannon arm). I thought Seattle believed his swing and miss would be easier to correct without the pressure of improving as a catcher while his arm and speed should work in the it field without much adjustment.
I assume the Braves just figured a change of scenery might help but if not then nothing lost. And looking at what max povse and rob whalen have done since the trade, this essentially works out to a nothing trade.
His value as a pitch framer for a young staff cannot be overstated. And a career .350 OBP makes me wonder if he beat you up in school or something.
I think the pitch framing stuff is definitely overstated for flowers and I love guy. It’s like Ender in CF. People think he’s amazing, but he’s regressed quite a bit over the years but you wouldn’t tell that from the fans. Flowers is solid. But the dude drops more balls than I’ve ever seen, both pitches and throws to the plate. His defense and pitch framing is definitely overrated to an extent
Tend to agree. His overall reputation is better than he has been as of late. There is a reason that didn’t bring him back until now.
This is a stupid conversation to start. Sal Fasano is almost 50 years old and hasn’t cought a game since 2008. Good thing the Braves aren’t operating on your preferences. Additionally, Fasano took a minor league coaching job with the Braves in 2017 making this even more of a non-issue.
Hi Steve,
Can you fix either the grammer or the sentence between ‘while’ & ‘Braves’? Please & thank you.
“He’s slated to undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in the thumb on his catching hand, and while ‘they’ Braves are hopeful he’ll be available late in the year, no official timeline has been provided”.
wow.
Grammar
lol
Its they/them
Or maybe you can just put up with it because this issue is more about you and this site doesn’t exist to pander to your preferences. If this FREE sites work isn’t good enough for you than you can always buy a subscription from the Athletic.
Pointless. If he takes at-bats away from Contreras then that’s completely unacceptable.
Stop. He’s not taking at bats away from Contreras if Contreras continues to hit like he is. Flowers is a better hitting mathis.. that’s a fact. He would make the team immediately better.
Don’t be so sure. Luke Jackson and Josh Tomlin have no business ever being on the mound in a game that’s closer than 10 runs and yet they constantly send them out there.
Very True
I think that’s more a product of pitching injuries. If it wasn’t such an issue I don’t think you would see pitchers such as Tomlin on the mound.
I love your username.
Fair enough lol
Not you fool! The great Jeff Blauser.
First, Dave O’Brien hasn’t been with the AJC since 2019 and writes for the Athletic since.
Second, d’Arnaud had his surgery this past Monday.
You knew it was coming.
He has been a good hitter? Have you seen his abs last yr. I was kidding about Fasano. We already have Mathis. Don’t need him unless for minor league depth.
I get the Fasano joke, but they aren’t even close in any way. Flowers was always a minor league signing just waiting in the wings to sign officially. Mathis is less than half the offensive player flowers is with a comparable defensive skill set.
This is an upgrade to the backup catcher position, nothing to complain about.
Flowers had a problem with passed balls in 2019. I don’t recall his having a problem in 2020 but I wasn’t paying close attention to him last season. His problems in 2019 got a lot of attention from the folks who follow Braves in the usual publications. For example, google this article title from AJC: Tyler Flowers on passed balls: It’s not fun
I haven’t seen much of Mathis but his vacuum cleaner saved the day in the 3-2 win vs Nats.
I don’t have a strong opinion here but I like the defense I saw from Mathis today and he caught the first good game that Smyly has thrown for Braves.
The Braves are one injury away from having a 38 yr old Jeff Mathis as their starting catcher without even a suitable backup.. this is a much needed depth move. GMs have to consider worst case scenarios, so getting Flo game ready in the minors is absolutely necessary in case something happens. If no more injuries happen, he’s still a better backup than Mathis. Calm down.
The fan base is tired of these recycled players.
And I’m tired of tired comments like these from braves fans about a MINOR LEAGUE signing.
He’s only going to the minors first to get in playing shape. You know they’re going to bring him up.
Those damn recycled players from the 2018-2020 teams.
What did those teams do for us fans anyways? Relax dude, he’s not the starter.
Good point. I’m not sure whether I’d rather have Mathis or Flowers backing up Contreras but I’m leaning Mathis. However, as you point out, what happens if Contreras goes down? So that’s a good argument for signing Flowers.
@Neil Braves have Carlos Martinez in AAA if anyone else goes down, so I would assume if Contreras goes down the Braves trade cash or a PTBNL for a warm body. They really can’t afford more catching injuries on top of what they have, but if it happens it should be interesting (in a bad way)
Coming up with scenarios in case Contreras is injured does get complicated. But right now the options seem to be Flowers starts and Mathis backup or Mathis starts and Flowers back up. If Mathis does anything with the bat, I lean to the latter because I’m thinking Mathis is the best catcher on the team when it comes solely to backstop and handling pitchers. If Mathis doesn’t hit at all then I guess I’d go with former but will little enthusiasm.
I’m not a fan of Flowers but he has been able to hit in the 200s which is better than Mathis and Alex Jackson.
Completely agree if Mathis hits. I’d love to see him start hitting, but I doubt it.
I only lean Flowers because, besides Smyly and Morton, Flowers has some familiarity with the rest of the pitching staff on the roster to some degree. But, I wouldn’t mind the two splitting time if Morton or Smyly prefer one to the other, but that would require the two of them perform well enough for the team to decide a dedicated catcher makes sense.
Either way should be interesting.
Lucroy would be a quick patch.
The writing was on the wall and glad it finally happen. He’s a better hitting Mathis… if he gets back in the show, the team is immediately better. Just hope we find a way to keep Mathis around in the minors. Regardless, this shouldn’t and better not take away at bats from Contreras! Go Braves!
I knew this was coming once d’Arnaud got injured.
By all accounts, Alex Jackson has busted his tail learning how to be the best catcher he can be. Not easy to be drafted and developed as an outfielder, then get traded to a team that wants you to catch. Just getting to the majors is an accomplishment.
Unfortunately, he’s not just a bad hitter. He’s been a “doesn’t hit(ter)” this year. Knows how to catch most of our developed arms due to spending years in the minors with them, so he’ll probably stay at Triple-A through this year. Any tiny hope of him factoring in even as a backup here, is gone now.
No issues with the Flo signing. He can backup Contreras and show him the ropes behind the dish. Travis will need time to catch a pitch let alone swing a bat. Alex Jackson was never in the future plans for them behind the dish. He has had opportunities before this season and is clearly overmatched at the plate.
Markakis next
Is this like when GM Roger Dorn activated himself in “Major League II”
Flowers was at a time considered a can’t miss prospect. His name was involved in some type of blockbuster years ago and the Braves said no way. It’s a great example of going for it when you can. Less than 10% of prospects, so called, ever pan out.
Heck the probably called BMac to see what he was doing.
I heard Refsnyder got rave reviews behind the dish.
Once Flowers is ready he’ll be brought up to strictly back up Contreras every 5th day as long as Contreras continues to hit. If you think it’s anything other than that you’re a complete moron.
Does anyone else have trouble logging in on here. It always takes me at least 2 times but sometimes 4 or 5 times typing the identical same username and password every time but it will say invalid login. I pay close attention to make sure every letter is correct but yet it does that several times. I only remember once that it actually logged me in on the first attempt.
@Fabulous: No.
Great choice for the Braves and it is a reunion for the Braves and Flowers. It looks like Contreras will get additional mentoring from Flowers and Mathis, which is a great for Contreras and the Braves. I think Contreras will blossom into an all-star catcher for the Braves, let’s find out as the season progresses.
Great point with when it comes to mentoring. When the Braves originally brought Flowers on I figured it was a bonus developmental voice for langeliers and contreras in the minors.
At least Contreras should get some major help with game prep and hitter insight.
Alex Jackson is a lost cause, but it was a nice attempt by the FO
Flowers .673 OPS last season is still better than the best single season OPS of Mathis career (.667- rookie season).
We do not accept any sort of Jeff Mathis slander on these boards, sir.
I appreciate your polite redirection of my focus. I withdraw my prior comment and will once again bend the knee to Jeff Mathis.
In all regards.. Tyler Flowers is a decent offensive catcher. Not sure if that makes up for his horrible defense. So, he frames the ball well but who cares if every time a runner is on base he doesn’t block the ball. Contreras looks promising I hope he gets a lot of playing time. AJ isn’t even worth mentioning, he’s a huge bust for a first round pick. Not even sure why the Braves even traded for him. Don’t care for excuses first round picks don’t hit .050
Braves did not give up much for Alex Jackson who was considered a strong prospect once upon a time. I think they got him from Seattle (but that’s solely recollection on my part). Seattle tried to make out OFer out of him but nothing was really working. Braves traded for him with the idea of moving him back to catcher because the farm had a run of bad luck at the catcher position (Bethancourt being the biggest bust). Maybe the Braves could turn his career around to at least being serviceable. So Braves were bringing in lots of guys to hopefully find 1 guy who could be catcher of the future. Around the same time that Alex was acquired, Braves signed a very young Contreras. Then a few years later, Braves drafted Langeliers in round 1. Langeliers was the second rated catcher in the draft. Langeliers is rated 63 by MLB pipeline (top 100 prospects). Problem for Alex Jackson is that Braves seemed to have hit the lottery with young catchers, making him odd man out.
Alex Jackson is not in the future plans.Braves haven given him chances in the past because of the power potential, it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t make enough contact. Contreras flat out beat him in Spring Training. With Flo back and Sal/Mathis they will work on his defense and handling of the staff. Complete upgrade with Flo.